New Zealand had played the inaugural day-night Test against Australia last November © Getty Images
A day after BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said India would host a day-night Test against New Zealand later this year, New Zealand Cricket has stated that a number of factors were yet to be finalised before the match could be confirmed.
Head of cricket operations at NZC, Lindsay Crocker, said that the board had hardly had discussions about it and they first heard of it only in the early hours of Friday, New Zealand time.
“The first I heard of it was the news that broke overnight, but [NZC chief executive] David [White] maybe a little closer to it because he is in Dubai at the [ICC] chief executive’s conference,” Crocker told Stuff.co.nz on Friday.
“Alphabetically, India traditionally sit next to New Zealand at these conferences so David would have no doubt talked to his Indian equivalent about the concept, but it would have been relatively fresh news to him as well because it certainly wasn’t a discussion we were having when David left a couple of days ago.
“India are quite definitive, which is quite exciting because they seem quite committed to the idea. We hadn’t considered that would be an option, so there is a bit of water to go under the bridge from our side.
“It is certainly very exciting for us to potentially be involved in the first Asian day-night [Test].”
Among the factors to be considered before a confirmation from the NZC were the stadium to be chosen for the match, its floodlights, the playing conditions, and practice opportunities available to the New Zealand players before the match.
White was expected to return during the weekend from Dubai and Crocker said discussions about the match could progress “fairly quickly”.
Thakur had said on Thursday that India were set to host the day-night Test using the pink Kookaburra ball. He also said the Duleep Trophy, an inter-zonal first-class tournament, would be used as a dress rehearsal before the proposed day-night Test. Even though the tournament was omitted in the 2015-16 season, it was likely to be played at the start of the next season in which India are set to play 13 Tests at home.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo